He spent days living in tents on the ice in temperatures of -30C (-22F) â but warned that global warming was changing the Arctic beyond recognition. Mr Axelsson, from Iceland said: âIt is getting more difficult for the hunters to live in small villages. The hunting ground, the ice, is getting so thin they canât travel.

Inuit hunters using harpoons at the edge of the ice near the north-west community of Thule (Picture: Ragnar Axelsson)

âIt is a 4,000-year tradition of Inuit hunters and that is changing fast. Now it is fading away, maybe.â

Last Days Of The Arctic runs until March 11 at the Proud Chelsea gallery in Kingâs Road, west London. See www.proud.co.uk.